CLEVELAND INDIANS HOST NATIONAL "PLAY" CAMPAIGN EVENT AT PROGRESSIVE FIELD FOR LOCAL YOUTH

PLAY—which stands for Promoting a Lifetime of Activity for Youth—is a public awareness campaign developed by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) in 2004 to combat child obesity. Through a series of fitness programs at all 30 MLB ballparks, PLAY was designed to encourage youth throughout the country to be active, eat right and sustain a healthy lifestyle.

The PLAY program was created in 2004 to raise awareness about young peopleâs health issues because obesity is a major concern in the United States. Since 2004, PBATS has conducted over 100 PLAY events inside all 30 MLB ballparks reaching thousands of children with positive messages about making smart life choices and living a more active and healthy lifestyle.

Working with the Taylor Hooton Foundation and Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs, PBATS incorporates anti-steroid education within their PLAY campaign to generate awareness about the dangers of performance enhancing drugs. Young people often lack information about how to train the healthy way - without taking drugs and putting their lives and health at risk.

About the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS)

The Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) serves as an educational resource for all Major League and Minor League Baseball athletic trainers. PBATS serves its members by providing for the continued education of the athletic trainer as it relates to the profession, helping improve his/her understanding of sports medicine so as to better promote the health of his constituency -- professional baseball players. PBATS also serves as a resource to educate those outside the professional baseball athletic trainer community about the profession and about the athletic trainer's integral position within the sports medicine team.

About the Taylor Hooton Foundation

The Taylor Hooton Foundation was formed in 2004 in memory of Taylor E. Hooton, a 17-year old high school athlete from Plano, TX. Taylor took his own life as a result of the abuse of anabolic steroids. This non-profit foundation was founded by the parents, family and friends of Taylor after his death when the founders became aware of the magnitude of a growing problem among high school athletes across the country - the illegal use and abuse of anabolic steroids as a performance enhancement drug. They discovered that this is a serious problem among young athletes; and that young people and their parents are generally ignorant of the real dangers of this powerful drug. The Taylor Hooton Foundation for Fighting Steroid Abuse was founded to attack the general wide-spread ignorance of anabolic steroid use; and to educate the public to its potential as a powerful killer drug.

About the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation

The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, founded in 2001 by members of the Ripken family in memory of their patriarch Cal, Sr. It works to create baseball and softball programs and facilities that positively impact disadvantaged youth by combining the principles represented by the Ripken name, the power of Cal, Jr. as a modern day hero and role model, and the universal appeal of baseball. It strives to provide once-in-a-lifetime experiences that use the magic of the big leagues to inspire kids to be the best that they can be...to dream a dream that someday they can achieve great things.